Head, with a crest of long feathers, either pendent or erectile, and recurved; bill, short, with the upper mandible curved gradually from the base, under mandible straight, and near the tip having generally two dentations, nostrils rather large, basal, covered with a membrane. Wings, rather ample, concave, quills rigid; tail, rather lengthened, strong; tarsi rather long and moderately robust. About six species known, all of which inhabit Mexico, and the adjoining parts of the United States and California, and are birds of beautiful plumage. “Lophortyx Gambelii. Nutt.” Gambel. Proc. Acad. Philada., I. p. 260, (1843.) Form. With an upright recurved crest of about six feathers, general form robust, rather lengthened; wings, with the third, fourth and fifth quills nearly equal and longest; tail, long; feet and legs robust. Feathers in front, at the base of the bill very narrow and probably erectile. Dimensions of skins, total length from tip of bill to end of tail, from 9¾ to 10½ inches; wing, 4½; tail, 4 to 4½ inches; of living or recent bird, according to Col. McCall, as above, total length of male, 10½ to 11⅜ inches; of female, 10⅜ to 10⅝ inches. Colours. Male. Frontal feathers white, each having a narrow longitudinal line of black, succeeding those a transverse band of white. Top of the head, fine reddish chestnut, crest, brownish black. Throat, black, which colour is completely enclosed by an edging of white. Entire plumage of the upper parts of the body, neck, wings, and tail, light bluish cinereous; feathers of the neck above, slightly marked in the middle with dark chestnut; flanks and sides, dark chestnut, every feather with a longitudinal strip of white; middle of the breast and abdomen white, with a large black spot on the latter. Bill, dark. Female. Throat, ashy white, with no vestige of black, as in the male. Head, above, plain cinereous, or with the colours of the male very faintly indicated; other parts of the plumage similar, but more obscure and paler. Crest, less fully developed. Hab. Texas. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada., and Nat. Coll. Washington city. Obs. Nearly related to, and, at first sight, bearing considerable resemblance to, the California Partridge, (_C. Californica_.) From this, however, it is easily distinguished by the entirely different colour of the inferior parts of the body, and other characters easily discovered on the most superficial examination.